Issue #1 Featured Artist: Fran Bussard
by Fran Bussard
“Dancy in the Garden.” Zirlinda (2019). Art courtesy of Fran Bussard.
Is the devil in the details? Not likely, in fact, simply impossible! Did God not say in Jeremiah 29:11:
“I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
If there is a God and he is all good, powerful, and has plans for us, then how and where did things start to go wrong? We are not always prosperous or successful. Nor are we all safe and well. Let’s unpack the dichotomy of good and evil with more questions and by looking at biblical accounts.
Assuming there is a God, how can I know the plans he has for me, and how can I cooperate with him to realize these plans? God tells us in Joshua 1:8:
Keep this book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
First, you have to ask, what did God say? Then, continue reminding yourself of that day and night. Just as Jesus rebuked Satan in the Garden of Gethesemane, “It is written…” Jesus reminds us also of what is written. Training our minds to act and react according to what is recorded in the book of Joshua, requires that we live in a state of remembrance. In other words, as your mind goes, so goes the rest. There is no system to arrive at God’s plans. It is systemic.
Acts 17:28 states,
For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, “For we are also his offspring.”
It’s a moment by moment awareness that we need to develop to connect to what Neuroscientist, Dr. Caroline Leaf calls the ‘Love Zone.’ God is love.
Taking this idea of God having a plan for you further, your thoughts, words, and choices affect, not only outcomes, but the very structure of your brain as Dr. Leaf explains in her book, The Perfect You: A Blueprint for Identity (2017).
Our brains are wired by our thoughts, words, and experiences. We write our story by what we think and say. This idea is aptly stated in a well-known, often quoted, verse from Proverbs 13:7:
For as a man thinks, so is he.
According to Genesis 1, God spoke into a void and created matter. Genesis also states that God created mankind in his own image. Therefore, our thoughts and words create matter! We, by our thoughts, words, and choices, determine who we are and who we become. To achieve the outcome desired, we sometimes have to change our minds and think differently. Easier said than done. More often than not, we have been through many experiences yet remain the same.
“A Merry Heart.” (2002). Art courtesy of Fran Bussard.
How do we get to what Dr. Leaf calls the “perfect you?” God, himself, tells us in Zachariah 4:6:
Then he answered and spoke unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the LORD of hosts.
Christianity is, therefore, a transformational faith that can only be achieved by God’s Spirit. As Zerubbabel required the power of God to rebuild the temple for the nation of Israel, so we, as the temple of the Holy Spirit, need His power to build ourselves according to His plan. Consider Genesis 1:2,
The earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
To experience transformation, we must first acknowledge that there is a Creator.
This revelatory acknowledgement brings us to more questions. Is Jesus the Messiah? What about God’s Spirit? It is, in fact, the job of the Holy Spirit to reveal the Messiah to mankind. A transformational faith is experiential. It’s the old fashioned, conversion experience that starts the process.
“The Great King.” Zirlinda (2019). Art courtesy of Fran Bussard.
Consider the following scripture from Colossians 1:16-17:
All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him, all things consist.
Consist, by definition, means to be formed or made up of. Meaning that everything that has happened, is happening and will happen is made up of God- bringing us around to the very genesis of it all. In the beginning, God created. We were created in the image of God. We are like him but not Him. We are a creation from the Creator of the universe who invites us to co-create with him.
But why? I can only conclude that God wants a BIG family!
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, Genesis 1:1. This book continues to outline all that God created, and He states that it is good. So, we have a good God, creating us in His image and placing us in a garden filled with what is good.
We all know what happened in the garden with Adam and Eve. Whether you think that is a story or believe it to be an account, we are left with thorns. We no longer live in a perfect garden. What do we do with the thorns?
Dr. Leaf, writes about the thorns that our brain forms when we think negatively. Our brain is referred to as a garden. Her books explain the science behind giant neurons that can encircle the brain like a crown of thorns, occurring when we think, experience, or speak negativity. She goes into detail about how the brain actually grows thorns or dendrites of the brain. She explains that we must moment by moment, choose love to reduce or obliterate existing thorns on the brain by practicing thought replacement.
Again, this is not a system. Achieve the good plans He has for you by reminding yourself what the Word says, think, speak and believe what God says is Truth. His Word is described in the Book of Hebrews 4:12 as being,
alive and sharper than any two edged sword.
Visualize giving Jesus the thorns as He places them in His crown from the cross. It is a systemic process by which we become the new creation. The quintessential renewing of the mind that the Bible so often refers to as the key to becoming who we already are. Or who we are designed to be by the Designer.
As our mind returns to the state of the “perfect you,” we become this new creation talked about in 2 Corinthians 5:17:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
“State of Mind.” Zirlinda (2019). Art courtesy of Fran Bussard.
We are ultimately in control of what happens in our brain, as the Bible states, in 2 Timothy 1:7:
For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
And consider these words of Jesus, written by Mark in 11:23:
For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.
Jesus is telling us that His words framed the world; so we frame our existence with words. In the time before Jesus walked as a man upon the earth, God spoke to the Hebrews in Deuteronomy 30:15-20,
See, I have set before you this day life and good, death and evil; In that I command you this day to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments...the Lord, your God will bless you in the land where you go to possess it.
We cannot, as mere humans, keep his commandments. The God of Genesis 1 gives us a way out when we fail. Is his birth, death, and resurrection ‘The Way’? Was the cross and the crown of thorns orchestrated by the enemy of God? There is a great exchange that takes place at the cross. Sin, the fallen nature OR redemption from sin with an overcoming nature. Your choice.
Again, I ask, is the devil in the details?
I think not.
Fran Bussard
Fran Bussard, a watercolorist and children’s author, lives in the Panhandle of Florida. She grew up in both New Orleans, Louisiana and Pass Christian, Mississippi. Fran arrived in Navarre, Florida with a backpack and a husband who retired from the United States Air Force. Don’t worry, the moving truck made a huge delivery shortly thereafter.
Fran grew up with a big drawing board in her house. Her father was an artist by profession; sparking her imagination at an early age. Her mother was a copywriter; embedding in her a passion for words.
Fran believes the creative spark is an invitation to collaborate with our Creator. In keeping with her fascination and love for all things critter, a portion of her books from the Coastal Dune Lake Critter series is donated to the Emerald Coast Wildlife Refuge. Get to know Fran and her Coastal Dune Lake Critters on her Facebook page and on Instagram. Watch for the release of her latest book, Baron, in Fall 2020.
PHOTOs: Courtesy Frances Bussard
Resources
We’ve created a free downloadable PDF to explore the article deeper. It contains discussion questions about the topic in general terms that will give you a jumping-off point for beginning a conversation.
The second page contains a way to see the topic from a biblical perspective.
And finally, to go deeper into the subject, we have chosen a few curated resources to explore from other authors’ and thinkers’ research or perspectives.
Read. Engage. Enjoy!
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Depending on how a gem is held, light refracts differently. At B+PC we engage in Pop Culture topics to see ideas from a new angle, to bring us to a deeper understanding. And like Pastor Shane Willard notes, we want “…Jesus to get bigger, the cross to get clearer, the Resurrection to be central…” Instead of approaching a topic from “I don’t want to be wrong,“ we strive for the alternative “I want to expand my perspective.”
So, we invite you to engage with us here. What piqued your curiosity to dig deeper? What line inspired you to action? What idea made you ask, “Hmmm?” Let’s join with our community to wrestle with our thoughts in love in the Comment Section! See you there!